California Health Care Personnel Update for May 2008
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has appointed Dorsey Griffith (D), a Sacramento Bee staff writer, as the assistant director of communications for the Department of Developmental Services.
Griffith's annual salary will be $101,340 (Yamamura, Sacramento Bee, 5/10).
Schwarzenegger has named Steven Tharratt (R) as the head of the state's Emergency Medical Services Authority.
Tharratt was the emergency medical services director for Sacramento County and several fire departments over the past 12 years. He will begin his new post on June 2, and his salary will be $200,000 annually (McIntosh, Sacramento Bee, 5/1).
The Grossmont Healthcare District board has appointed Michael Emerson to the five-member board after Robert Yarris resigned. Emerson is the owner of Hart Optical in La Mesa.
The board also is seeking a replacement for the seat vacated by the April death of John Hardebeck.
Both seats will be up for election in November (San Diego Union-Tribune, 5/8).
NorthBay Medical Center has hired Diana Sullivan, former hospital administrator from Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, to run its new open-heart surgery program, the East Bay Business Times reports.
The program is the first of that kind in Solano County (Hogarth, East Bay Business Times, 5/26).
O'Connor Hospital, part of the Daughters of Charity Health System, has named Ronald Galonsky as chief operating officer.
Galonsky has been CEO of Watsonville Community Hospital since 2006. He will replace Joanne Allen, who will become CEO of St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, 5/8).